Everyday Junglist
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About me. You know how everyone says to be a successful writer you should focus in one or two areas. I continue to prove them correct.
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An AI Takes an IQ Test
If you wanted to measure something, but you could not define what that thing was, or how it worked, or what it did, what would you do? What if you “knew” the thing you were measuring existed, were absolutely sure of it, and completely believed that it was something very important? Moreover, all of your friends and family and every other person in the world thought the same way. They all truly believed this undefinable thing really existed and that it was something very, very important. How exactly would you measure it?
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Futurism
Guilt as Motivator
There are many ways to convince someone to do something or not do something. You can ask politely, gently plead, beg, demand, threaten, tempt, among many others. Finally, of course, you can use guilt, possibly the oldest (see Book of Genesis story of Adam & Eve for several excellent examples), and arguably the least effective means of getting another person or group of persons to do the thing or things which you would like them to do, or stop doing the thing or things you would like them to stop doing. Why do we constantly do this? Why do seemingly rationale and sane individuals, many of whom our are very own friends and family, play the guilt card so often when attempting to convince us to do something (or not), especially when many times there are plenty of other options such as some of the ones listed above that would seem to be available as better choices?
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Psyche
How Long Does it Take to Shave a Mouse?
When you are a nerd like myself, you have a whole bunch of (more accurately 1 or 2) nerd friends. Occasionally these nerd friends hit you up for advice, or ideas, or just to say hello, or to update you on all the nerdy things they have been up to since the last time you nerded out together. Sometimes these nerd contacts take a form that borders on the bizarre. Case in point the latest missive I received by text message from my nerd micro/macro biologist friend Sam (not her real name). Sam works in some sort of high(ish) level biosecurity position somewhere and for some entity that she refuses to elaborate on no matter how hard I push. Keep in mind I had not heard a peep from Sam in close to a year. Not one single phone call, or email, or text message. Complete and total silence for 1 full year. Until today when, out of the blue, I received the following message “Do you have any idea how long it might take to shave 30 mice?” Short answer, no. Also the long answer.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Journal
Does Not Remembering People's Names Really Make You Less Likeable?
15 Mini Things That Can Instantly Make You Less Likable - But many people still keep doing these A recent story on Medium (linked above) described 15 mini things that supposedly can make you instantly less likable. While many of the 15 items listed are highly questionable and debatable it was #5 that really gave me pause. It stated that not remembering people’s names makes you less likeable. The reason given was that this indicates an overall lack of interest in other people. Whether or not this assertion is true is an interesting and open question. I happen to disagree and do not believe memory of names has anything at all to do with likability however, that discussion will have to wait. A much more impactful (in a bad way) aspect of the issue has to do with the so called “research” cited as supporting evidence of the opinion (which was asserted as fact). The article from Science Daily News is not in any sense of the word science or research, nor does it provide references to any actual science or research. It is an article in which a psychology professor at Kansas State gives his opinion about memory. He believes that one’s level of interest in a given topic improves their ability to remember things about said topic. He then tells a story of how he first came to formulate this Nobel prize winning hypothesis by playing a game with his students in which he amazed them all with his knowledge of world capitals. He realized he remembered these capitals not because he was interested in Geography but because of his love of collecting stamps. Obviously, his interest in stamp collecting is what made him so good at remembering world capitals. And so, unless you are stupid, you can obviously see from this story that people who do not remember names well have less interest in other people than those who do. And of course this then makes them less likable. OMG. Head slap. Groan. Professor Einstein then gives us all a tip for how we can better remember names with an example. “If somebody’s last name is Hefty and you notice they’re left-handed, you could remember lefty Hefty.” Thank God I now can remember all of the tens of billions of people with the very common last name of Hefty. Gheezus Mary Jane Christie and Joseph Mgillicutty, what a load of BS. Difficulty in remembering names may or may not have anything to do with one’s level of “interest in other people” (whatever that means) but spouting off crazy shit and calling it science or research is why more and more people think science is crap. Go run some experiments, collect some data, survey the literature, publish some papers, then talk to me about your findings. Telling me stories of your youthful misadventures in stamp collecting is less than helpful and in fact is hurtful to the cause of science. I can’t be too hard on the hapless Professor as he likely had little idea how his quotes might come to be used, but I have no such sympathy for Science Daily News. Calling this kind of opinion blurb science is outrageous and plain stupid. I understand the urge to make science “interesting” and “accessible” for the common man. I try and do it all the time, often without much success. But this is pure garbage, total crap, unsubstantiated assertions made with zero data to back them up. Scientists are allowed to have opinions, I have plenty but they are no more or less valuable than any other persons opinion. To suggest they are, as this article does, does a grave disservice to all of science and all scientists. Thanks Science Daily News. Great job. Dickheads.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Humans
Deep Learning for Humans
Introduction We humans always have always anthropomorphized the things we created. The dates can go back to ancient Greeks, where Pygmalion — the Greek artist felt in love with Galatea, the sculpture he created and wished to give his creation a life.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Lifehack
Restricting Access to a Third Dose of Vaccine Could Be FDA's Worst Idea Yet
My very few regular readers know that I recently took a third dose of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. You can read all about the reasons for my decision here. I just got back the results of my first neutralizing antibody titer assay post 3rd dose and the numbers are outstanding. For this most recent test I was able to have the assay run against the Washington (original outbreak) strain, as well as the South African and UK variants. Delta variant was not included as labs across the world are still struggling to expand their stocks as the virus has proven particularly delicate to handle in the lab. Ironic, given how robust this particular variant has proven to be outside the lab. In any case my titer against the South Africa variant increased from 724 to >16,000, and similar large increases were seen for UK and Washington. As a reminder 128 is considered the minimum titer for protection and the higher the number the better. My own numbers, exactly like everyone else's who has been tested had been dropping precipitously and a plot of the data suggested I had 1 or 2months of protection left at best which is one of the reasons I moved to obtain the 3rd dose when I did
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Confessions
My First Experience With Guns
The Background and Intro I had my first introduction to the world of guns (and crossbows) this past Saturday afternoon. Until then I had never shot anything more powerful than a bb-gun. Guns just were never a thing in my life. Of course, as a kid I thought the shoot 'em ups in movies were cool and would play guns with my friends but mostly lost interest as I grew into adolescence and adulthood. My family never owned guns, none of my friends or relatives did either and I never had a particular desire to hunt or kill anything. To be honest the idea of owning or shooting a gun rarely crossed my mind. I don’t think I was ever anti-gun, anti-killing things yes, with limited exemptions for hunting and eating, but not anti-gun per se. I did think it odd that anybody would want to own or shoot one.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Wander
In Defense of Offense
It seems you can’t go anywhere these days without seeing another “in defense of (fill in the blank)” article. By always taking the defensive position these articles have given the offense minded article writer, and offensive articles in general an undeserved bad rap. I for one am sick of it and have decided to take a bold, and dare I say brave stand, in defense of offense. I will defend offense until my very last breath and I will never be defensive about the offensive unless of course I am defending it from unfair defensive attacks. I recognize that this position in defense of offense will be unpopular with offensive defenders but someone has to stick up for the little guy. Offense has been on the defense for way too long. It has stood silently by as defense after defense has been written, and done nothing. That ends today. Offense is going on the offense and I will defend offense from any all defensive attacks no matter how offensive or defensive they may be. This is war, plain and simple, and defenses days are numbered. It’s time for the offensive to begin.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Fiction
Board, Meet Head
To say I was energetic and rambunctious as a child is a bit like saying the universe is big. While it captures the essence of the thing, it fails to convey the sheer scope and magnitude of it. Mostly, I think I was that way because of a genetic predisposition to that sort of personality type and its corresponding behaviors. However, I have little doubt that environmental factors played a major role in exacerbating my hyperactive streak. Specifically, in this case I am referring to diet. More specifically I am referring to the very high sugar content of my diet at that time. A typical day featured Lucky Charms for breakfast, up to an entire 2L of Mountain Dew or any other soda we might have on hand, and whatever assorted cookies, candies, or cakes I could lay my grubby little hands on. I had very loving parents, and I think overall they did a very good job raising two troubled and troubling children, but for one major exception which was what they allowed, and in some cases encouraged, me to eat. Granted, back in the early 1980s when I grew up less was known about the dangers of sugar, but even then it was a well established fact that sugar made kids hyper, and I was hyper enough for three kids in my sleep, let alone when wide awake after powering down an entire carton of oreo cookies or four snickers bars or both. In my parents defense, at that time we had much bigger concerns such as the dangers of communism, and the possibility that the Soviets might lob a few thousand nukes our way sparking a genocidal global thermonuclear war that would end in the death of the entire planet, so I cut them some slack on the sugar thing. Despite my truly awful diet I remained skinny as a rail throughout my childhood and to this day, again a fortunate happenstance of genetics and not through any great efforts on my part.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Confessions
Preamble to the Constitution of the United Vegetables of the Refrigerator Crisper
Author’s note: A friend challenged me to rewrite the preamble to the US Constitution including the phrase “…in order to form a more perfect onion” which for some reason this friend found particularly hilarious. I thought it was kind of cute too and decided to accept the challenge. It was actually fairly difficult but I do like what I managed to come up with.
By Everyday Junglist4 years ago in Fiction
